January 2012
4 posts
2 tags
“World War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military...”
– Marshall McLuhan
3 tags
Indie project management is for suckers. →
painter-story:
Working on an indie project is an exercise in pain and frustration. Most of the time you have grand dreams at the start, which have to be hacked down into a stub because you’re short on all the elements required of successful project management: time and money.
5 tags
Hey game journalists, let's make something clear...
Visual novels are a medium, like literature, film, or games. It is a recent medium, a hybrid of games and literature, but does not stand apart from either one.
Dating sims are a genre, like first person shooters, romantic comedies, or military thrillers. Dating sims can be games, or visual novels. If someone writes a CYOA book on romance, it could probably exist under the medium of literature...
5 tags
Minority Games
With the recent release of visual novel Katawa Shoujo, I’ve been watching controversy unfold about it. It seems to me that there are a fair number of people who have automatically dismissed it as exploitation porn from 4chan, without bothering to read it for themselves, or even bother doing any research about it. This has me thinking about games featuring social minorities such as the...
December 2011
3 posts
4 tags
What happened to my weekly reviews?
I’ve really dropped the ball during the last few weeks, and I’ve decided to just let things slide until the new year. With the calendar turning over, I aim to start again with a fresh slate, to fill to the brim with ideas, tasks, and all sorts of other wonderful things that will keep me busy (but hopefully not overly stressed).
Chris 2012 begins with a DayRunner two-page-per-day...
2 tags
Weekly review: November 28 - December 4, 2011
This week’s been full of early days, which gave me the time to pummel through on educational tasks. I didn’t get as much done during the week as I hoped, however, so the weekend was spend finishing up assignments and taking tests. Now all that’s left is the final exam next weekend. Mid-January should see me start another course, but I’ll be free in December to figure things...
November 2011
5 posts
2 tags
(Bi-)Weekly review: November 14 - 27
I totally bombed on last week’s review, so this one kind of does double duty. I’ve scratched the events section, too, given that I missed tracking events & moods for quite a few days in this period. Things have been insane and insanely busy as of late.
Tasks and Accomplishments:
From last two weeks:
Life Management:
[―] Continue room cleanup &...
2 tags
Weekly review: November 7 - November 13, 2011
Maybe I should just set Mondays as the day to do the reviews, although I really think Sunday is the more appropriate day for it. I just need to get my head into a working state on Sundays. Once again I have things on the list here completed, but that I didn’t do during the week; as usual, it’s unchecked for this review but will be checked for the next one.
This week’s been...
2 tags
Weekly review: October 31 - November 6, 2011
Woo, late again. The malaise of Sunday pretty much prevented me from doing anything at all, so it’s another Monday review for me.
So much stuff has been piling up that I’m taking it kind of easy this week with regard to new tasks. They’re mostly of the think and fetch variety, allowing me to actually try and clear out the task backlog again.
Tasks and Accomplishments:
From...
1 tag
What do I know, anyway?
I was recently asked on formspring about what I know about game development. Much to my consternation, I didn’t have an answer I felt comfortable with — not just for game development, but what I know in general. What do I know? How can I quantify and qualify my skills, traits and knowledge?
When I do things like host game design workshops, or talk about software development or...
October 2011
6 posts
2 tags
Weekly review: October 24 - October 30, 2011
I actually got a lot done in terms of education this week, but it’s been very stressful and painful otherwise. Job-related anxiety is at an all-time high, and at points I was concerned that I would be a danger to myself and others. I’ve since recovered over the weekend, but I’m still quite wary about this travelling work project I’ve been stuck on. I didn’t ask for...
5 tags
The art of tabletop game development
A week ago, I ran a workshop on tabletop game design at the Pickering Public Library with a friend of mine. It’s the second time we’ve run this workshop (the first time was for the Ad Astra convention in the spring).
The workshop runs for about three hours, and covers the very basics of rules & mechanics. We start off with a discussion of mechanics, and from there move on to...
2 tags
Weekly Review: October 17 - October 23, 2011
Another week, another late review.
Time wasn’t on my side this week after all, and a number of events conspired to really drag me down by the end of the work week. Fortunately the weekend allowed for some recharging of the emotional batteries, but the coming week will be just as bad (or possibly worse).
As with the last couple of weeks, some things here have already been accomplished, just...
2 tags
Weekly Review: October 10 - October 16, 2011
Education is really slipping, and if I’m to complete my course in time, I really need to get back on the ball. Other projects and areas of focus need a lot of attention, too.
I have Tuesday off work due to meetings, and so I can conduct the game design workshop I’ve done before at Ad Astra. Hopefully I can use the remaining free time to catch up on my coursework.
Tasks and...
2 tags
Weekly Review: October 3 - October 9, 2011
Wow, two days late. Some of the things I missed on last week, I’ve already completed, and likewise for “next week” items. For the sake of physics, I’ll leave those unchecked until the next review.
Despite not getting much done outside of work, I had a good week. There were a couple rough spots, but I was able to maintain a positive attitude for the most part. Despite the...
2 tags
Weekly Review: September 26 - October 2, 2011
The number of things I’ve left undone continues to grow. It’s really getting to me! Hopefully, now that we’re going to start working at the new store, the switch to part-time hours will happen soon and I’ll once again have time to do things.
The coming week is packed with nine hour days, so I don’t see much hope for clearing out much of this. This is quite...
September 2011
9 posts
3 tags
I need this on a t-shirt
Front:
Back:
2 tags
Weekly Review: September 19 - September 25, 2011
This week’s report demonstrates the importance of sorting tasks and accomplishments by project, or at least some level of category. I have a few things to consider regarding the organization of these reviews. I’m also second-guessing the use of Tumblr for them, because its support for formatting is somewhat lacking, unless I hack straight HTML.
This has been another busy week of work,...
2 tags
My daily tracking sheet
Since August, I’ve been keeping track of my tasks, accomplishments, and moods. This plays an important part in my life management system, because it helps me avoid procrastinating (for the most part) as well as determine what might trigger mood problems for me. Every evening, I do a daily review where I see what I’ve accomplished, how I’ve felt throughout the day, and what...
8 tags
Reasons Windows 8 scares me...
I love Windows 7. But I don’t like Windows 8 at all. Microsoft’s attempt to turn computers of all sizes and colours into what pretty much amounts to iOS devices really rubs me raw, as someone who prefers the power and elegance of the command line, or the choices and configurability of recent versions of the operating system.
While Windows 8 is looking to be a win for the...
2 tags
Weekly review: September 12 - September 18, 2011
Screwed up in getting this out on Sunday as I should have. I blame exhaustion.
Anyway, incomplete items are no longer going to be listed in the “next week” section of Tasks and Accomplishments. Since they’re incomplete, they should be assumed to be there in the first place. I’m also considering removing weekly chores too, since not doing those is the exceptional state....
2 tags
Weekly review: September 5 - September 11, 2011
My first full week of employment. Dipped to an emotional low point mid-week, but recovered from it on Thursday. I now seem to be running on as little as five hours of sleep Monday-Friday, only getting to sleep longer on the weekend. But at least my sleep is regular!
I’ve added OneNote to my tools for managing what I need to get done. However, I’ve yet to truly integrate it into the...
2 tags
Retiring Chris.Charabaruk.com as a blog
For a while now, this site has been mostly moribund, and certainly out of date. Thanks to Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn and other services, I haven’t really made much use of chris.charabaruk.com. With my about.me profile, there’s not that much left for this site to do. Well, there is one thing it can do – host my projects.
So, effective immediately, chris.charabaruk.com is no longer my blog. ...
6 tags
Six Big Questions
Going through the process of GTDifying my life, I read David Allen’s “Making It All Work” recently. While I picked up a lot of important lessons from that book, something that particularly struck me was the chapters on perspective. As part of my reading, I tried stating some of the perspective chapters as questions to myself. While the questions aren’t big ones, their...
2 tags
Weekly review: August 29 - September 4, 2011
I’m going to start posting a weekly review (or at least I’m going to try). The purpose of this is to track my accomplishments, moods, and things I need to do in the near future. With any luck, I’ll be able to keep this up and do a better job of working towards my goals.
Tasks & Accomplishments:
✔ Created new editions of resume for retail and fast food
✔ Talked with Liz...
1 tag
What is your favorite book?
Fiction? “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss. Non-fiction? “Making It All Work” by David Allen.
(Note: Books are subject to change without notice. Not valid in Wyoming.)
Ask me anything! No promises on straight answers, but…
1 tag
If a genie granted you three wishes, what would...
A decent job, a new computer, and a life-long MSDN subscription.
Ask me anything! No promises on straight answers, but…
August 2011
4 posts
3 tags
1 tag
Nostalgia
Oh nostalgia, that bittersweet feeling Of pain and pleasure, of loss and remembrance A sense of fury rises in me as I recall The lush forests of my youth The community that has gone The dreams of childhood forgotten with age.
Has it been so long since last I was here? Or is this a new world that has replaced the old? My feelings cannot tell, and I am lost In a maze of my own memories, Blending...
July 2011
2 posts
2 tags
Radio Alarm Clock 0.11 now available, and shinier...
Image via Wikipedia That’s right, after over a year’s wait, a new version of Radio Alarm Clock. Technically, it’s actually version 0.11.0.1, as I found a serious flaw in 0.11 after tagging and building release packages, but before putting it online. These things happen, though. So anyway, the new version is here. And what does it add? Rebuilt user interface for Vista and Windows 7...
Reformulating Chris.Charabaruk.com
It’s no secret that my original blog and project site doesn’t get any love these days. It’s clunky, old, and pretty much impossible to bring up to date without losing everything, thanks to its dependencies on Drupal modules still not even available for D6. Pretty much everything that it originally existed for, I now have other services to provide those features for me. To go...
June 2011
1 post
9 tags
Letter to my MP about the postal lockout
Dear Mr. Chisu,
I’m writing in regard to the postal lockout currently in progress and your party’s effort to handle it with bill C-6. As someone who is waiting for educational materials for a correspondence course to reach me, I am affected by the lockout, like many other Canadians. However, like many others, I think that the government’s attempts to end the issue is ham-fisted, and will result in...
May 2011
10 posts
2 tags
1 tag
3 tags
1 tag
Goats are awesome, totally awesome. But do you...
Goats are awesome, totally awesome. But do you know why they’re so awesome?
Answer here
4 tags
3 tags
1 tag
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Starting up the Toronto Indie Games Conference. It never really built up to that critical mass to keep it running, but the fact that we actually were able to run two years back to back was a hell of an achievement.
I’d love to see something like that happen again in Toronto. I’m volunteering for this year’s Gamercamp, but I’d love to see something along the lines of GDC...
2 tags
aaaaaaaaargh
Trying to draw my face, but I can’t do it, not even when I have a photograph of me staring back as a reference. I should line and scan in the pencil sketch tomorrow so everyone can see how horrible I am ;_;
Also I need a scanner. And a new portable hard drive. Golds plox
April 2011
10 posts
3 tags
So I'm modding /r/VisualNovels now, and doing a VN...
Feels good, man.
Anyway, I’m looking to breathe some life into /r/VisualNovels over on reddit. Right now there’s only about 20 followers, and barely a handful of links posted. I want to change that, though. Visual novels are a pretty neat medium for storytelling, one that I think could use more attention on this side of the Pacific. While it’s a small community right now, I...
3 tags
What do you call an experimental music group made...
Velveeta Underground.
listening to "The Presidents of the United States... →
MOVING TO THE COUNTRY, GONNA EAT A LOT OF PEACHES
AT-AT for America: The Dream: An AT-AT for America →
atatforamerica:
NERDS OF AMERICA:
We were once a country that made things: giantmetal cars, Hoover Dams, non-AutoTuned popular music.
But now we are stuck in an economy in limbo, surrounded by our Internets, our hipsters and our arguing politicians.
Nerds, I have a great idea to make America great…